Emulation M3 Perfect battery is bad.

Lemmy Koopa

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Hi. So my M3 Perfect's battery has gone bad for years now. Luckily it can keep a charge long enough to save games, but I'm just wondering.. How common is this problem? It seems like it is a very common problem. Now for some questions regarding the issue.

1) Why does this happen so often to people?

2) Can I just replace the battery with another CR-family battery?

Edit: Ugh I'm really sorry, I posted this in the wrong section. I had Flash and Emulation in 2 tabs and accidentally started the topic in this one.
 

Another World

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batteries do not last forever. so yea, it happens. you can swap it with another battery. just open it up to see what they used. i'm pretty sure it will be a battery with tabs, meaning you'll need a similar one or you'll need to desolder the tabs off the old on. there were some 3in1 battery replacement guides where people were able to detach the tabs and then place a new tab-less battery between them.

-another world
 

Lemmy Koopa

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It's weird how most battery-backed SRAM games last a long time though. Like NES games still save fine, but my M3's battery dies after a few years of being purchased?

I read somewhere that leaving the cart on a running system charges it, and I left it in a charging DS on for like a week. The battery lasted a good while then started doing the same again.
Usually the SRAM and Moonshell settings reset every few days, and it's been like that for years now.
 

jimmyemunoz

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I replace GBA flash card batteries using a solder iron and a replacement battery. The altering method can be done and quite easily, but it's risky, and there's a greater chance of you messing up and needing a battery with tabs anyway. Alternatively, you could also solder two wires to the motherboard's battery contacts, then attach each wire by soldering to a new battery's tabs (choose this method if you don't trust your soldering). For some people, this is easier on their nerves, and more doable because de-soldering requires more finesse and skill.
 

Lemmy Koopa

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Sounds risky, I might just stick with my half-assed battery until it gets unusable. I'm lucky enough my M3 even works again.
I removed the battery in my old broken cart once with the tabs still in place. I didn't know that the tabs came with the battery, I thought it was part of the cart.
 

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one guide i read used an exacto knife to pry the tabs from the battery. they then cleaned up the tabs and taped them around a new 3v battery. the shell compressed everything and they reported no issues.

-another world
 

Lemmy Koopa

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one guide i read used an exacto knife to pry the tabs from the battery. they then cleaned up the tabs and taped them around a new 3v battery. the shell compressed everything and they reported no issues.

-another world

That's exactly what I was thinking to do. The shell should be small enough to compress the battery down, and if it isn't, I could wedge something between the shell and the battery, like I did with it's SD reader's metal shell.

I had another M3 that stopped working completely and I managed to pry the battery off that just fine before. The only problem I see is maybe the battery touching other components if I use one without a plastic ring around it.
 

Lemmy Koopa

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maybe you could fix that issue with a bit of insulating electrical tape?

-another world

Good idea. I think I'll test before trying to replace the battery. I want to make sure if I add a new battery, the pressure of the shell won't outbalance the pressure of the shell on the SD case.

I don't know how my M3 got in such bad shape. I've been thinking of planting a microSD adapter into the reader and using micro SD cards to prolong the SD reader, what do you think of that idea?
 

superspudz2000

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you could get a SD slot replacement and desolder the current one and replace it.
you would need a precision soldering iron and solder wick, and resin core solder.

better if you work on a guinea pig before attempting it.
get a copy of Backyard Sports from the dollar store and
try it on that, (or Madden from gamestop)

i have a broken M3 too and was thinking of trying to repair it.
 

Lemmy Koopa

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you could get a SD slot replacement and desolder the current one and replace it.
you would need a precision soldering iron and solder wick, and resin core solder.

better if you work on a guinea pig before attempting it.
get a copy of Backyard Sports from the dollar store and
try it on that, (or Madden from gamestop)

i have a broken M3 too and was thinking of trying to repair it.

I'm not sure if I can do that on good terms of not further damaging it, if not to the point of not being usable at all anymore.
It's current status is that it works after I disassembled an SD reader, took a pin/prong out and placed it where the broken one was.

The missing prong actually completely came off, and I don't even think the trace to the prong is working right. The prong has a metal piece jutting out that lands on a golden ring, which is where I believe the prong's trace leads to, since it works when I do that.
The PROBLEM is it sliding out of place over time. I could probably just solder that, but I honestly have no soldering skills. I could buy a kit practice on things, but I'm still iffy of completely loosing my M3 in the process of f'ing up, so the best idea I had was to plant an microSD adapter to avoid having to slide in a regular SD card, pushing the prong out eventually.


Good luck on yours! The M3 Perfect certainly is a great little device.
 

suppow

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Haha not a chance man. I know how you feel though, I'm sorry. The M3 is my main portable media device so I doubt I'd give it up anywhere near soon. I don't know how it got in such a bad shape either, it looks like I used it as a hockey puck.
lol, oh well, cant say i tried haha.
but you should really try to get that fixed, it sounds horrible from the posts above,
just make sure you dont break it more trying to fix it XD
maybe taking it to Dr House?
 

superspudz2000

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i cant find the other post i replied to, anyway,

here is link showing how to do a dirty Battery replacement
http://dsdatabase.org/showthread.php/168-M3-Lite-Battery-discharged

and you should try getting a proper replacement SD Slot,
but practice soldering on a guinea pig cart first.

my local dollar store has a million copies of "Backyard Sports"
thats been in the bin for years. 2 dollars isnt bad either.
 

Lemmy Koopa

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i cant find the other post i replied to, anyway,

here is link showing how to do a dirty Battery replacement
http://dsdatabase.org/showthread.php/168-M3-Lite-Battery-discharged

and you should try getting a proper replacement SD Slot,
but practice soldering on a guinea pig cart first.

my local dollar store has a million copies of "Backyard Sports"
thats been in the bin for years. 2 dollars isnt bad either.

That battery topic seems weird. a 3.6v battery UPH LIR battery? The M3 uses a CR 3v.

Like I said, I don't think I can trust myself to replace the whole SD card slot. I don't have soldering experience, and I don't think I have a fine enough touch for big small-PCB work. I've done a lot of hacky fixes with electronics as a kid, but that's just duct tape and wires.
Like I said again, the best thing I can do is either plant a microSD card, or solder the pin/prong to the trace/gold ring(I don't know the proper term for that part of a PCB, it's like a hole in the board with a gold ring around it, to transfer the trace to the other side of the board or something.)


EDIT!!!: I just thought of something, about how I said my NES games still keep saves and a bunch of other battery-backed games can still keep saves. Is the reason why M3's batteries die so quickly is because of the RTC function? I imagine that drawing power along with the SRAM would kill the battery quickly, right?
 

superspudz2000

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if thats the case it would only die if playing a lot of Pokemon/Boktai.

i wonder can you still save by Reset to main menu
even after the battery dies?
 

Lemmy Koopa

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if thats the case it would only die if playing a lot of Pokemon/Boktai.

i wonder can you still save by Reset to main menu
even after the battery dies?

Wouldn't the battery die regardless? The RTC is running all the time, even when the system is powered off. Essentially that means the battery is ALWAYS being drained to keep track of time. It's the same reason why Game & Watches don't turn off, because it is used as a watch too, so it always needs to be on to keep track of time.

I imagine if I reset to main menu via the RTS menu, it should save even if the battery is 100% dead, since the SRAM should be charged when the system runs until turned off.
However, I've stated my battery is not fully dead, but low to the point where it will randomly "die"/lose all data stored in SRAM ever few days. I always turn back on my GBA to save to the SD card after turning off the game I'm playing because of this.

I wouldn't mind this if I didn't have to keep setting the RTC because of this.
 

albertar

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Wouldn't the battery die regardless? The RTC is running all the time, even when the system is powered off. Essentially that means the battery is ALWAYS being drained to keep track of time. It's the same reason why Game & Watches don't turn off, because it is used as a watch too, so it always needs to be on to keep track of time.

I imagine if I reset to main menu via the RTS menu, it should save even if the battery is 100% dead, since the SRAM should be charged when the system runs until turned off.
However, I've stated my battery is not fully dead, but low to the point where it will randomly "die"/lose all data stored in SRAM ever few days. I always turn back on my GBA to save to the SD card after turning off the game I'm playing because of this.

I wouldn't mind this if I didn't have to keep setting the RTC because of this.
Did you ever replace your battery? I can't seem to find any parallel tabbed M3 batteries anywhere
 

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